2023 Diversity Reading Groups
Join the Conversation!
Open to all faculty, staff, students, and administrators.
Our annual Diversity Reading Groups offer a range of great reading opportunities in the month of October designed to invite every member of the Loyola community into shared conversations about diversity and inclusion. In this way, the Diversity Reading Groups support and sustain ongoing conversations around racial justice and feminism, masculinity, higher education and slavery, colonization, religion, and how to take action against oppression—on our campus and beyond. Last year we had over 100 participants Can you help us deepen the conversation by joining and bringing a few friends??
This year, we have groups that will meet virtually, in-person, or in a hybrid format (i.e., your choice: you can attend in person or online at your discretion).
Academic Affairs will provide complimentary books. We are offering participants two options:
- Kindle version (e-book)
- Hard Copy (in-person pick up only)
To make sure all participants receive their books on time, we encourage participants to sign up for a group by Monday, Sept. 25. Your books are being purchased locally, at independent bookstores.
To sign up, choose one of the groups below and send your selection to academicequity@loyola.edu. Please include how you would like to receive your book.
Mondays
The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarms
Moderated by David Carey, Alexis Faison, & Jenny Kinniff
Noon - 1 p.m.
Oct.2, 9, 16, and 23
Virtual
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine L. Wilkinson
Moderated by Elizabeth Dahl
1 - 2 p.m.
Oct. 2, 9, 23, and 30
Hybrid (College Center Conference Room 105)
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
Moderated by Donna Pitts & Jason Prenoveau
2:15 - 3:15 p.m.
Oct. 2, 9, 16, and 23
In-person (College Center Conference Room 105)
Tuesdays
Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore by Nicole Fabricant
Moderated by Ben Belz
Noon - 1 p.m.
Oct. 3, 10, 17, and 24
In-person (College Center Conference Room 105)
Wednesdays
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg
Moderated by Matt Mulcahy
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Oct. 4, 11, 25, and Nov. 1
In-person (College Center Conference Room 107)
Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts*
Moderated by Rhona Little & Jason Summers
1 - 2 p.m.
Oct. 4, 11, 18, and 25
Virtual
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by Adrienne Maree Brown
Moderated by Whitney Hobson & Emalee Quickel
4 - 5 p.m.
Oct. 4, 11, 25, and Nov. 1
In-person (Jenkins Hall 115)
Pleasure Activism contains explicit content related to sexual pleasure, people’s bodies, drug use, and violence. We will be exploring this complex content together, with thoughtfulness and without judgment or censorship. Come join us!
Thursdays
Harvard Business Review: “On Diversity” by Various Authors
Moderated by Eileen Hiebler & Mary Ann Scully
Noon – 1 p.m.
Oct. 5, 12, 19, and 26
In-person (Sellinger Hall 101K Conference Room)
Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
Moderated by Emily Kane & Stephen Park
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
Oct. 5, 12, 19, and 26
In-person (College Center Conference Room 113)
The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal and How to Set Them Right by Adam Harris
Moderated by Jack Hobson & Leviticus Jordan
6 - 7 p.m.
Oct. 12, 19, 26, and Nov. 2
Virtual
* This book was written to provide a safe space for people of color to process and heal from racial harm experienced in the workplace. Specifically, the author provides “strategies for women of color to speak up during racialized moments, work through past triggers, and reframe career disappointments as opportunities to grow into a new path.” As a result, this Diversity Reading Group was specifically created to serve as a context and container for that healing. While all members of the Loyola community are welcome to attend any Diversity Reading Group, we thought it was important for individuals considering whether or not to join this reading group to know that the goal is to provide a safe space for processing and healing from racial trauma in the workplace, and that doing that in community can have powerful effects. Thus, we respectfully ask that if you are not a member of the BIPOC community that you strongly consider one of the other excellent books we have curated for this year’s Diversity Reading Groups.